Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government in Japan has established a specialized agency to facilitate the overseas sale and acquisition of weaponry. The decision is designed to deepen Tokyo’s military ties with other countries following the easing of a ban on arms exports last year, while also providing an economic boost to Japanese corporations that have long demanded the removal of restrictions: here.

Opposition members surged toward the chairman’s seat as they realised something was amiss after ruling party legislators had surrounded him at the podium.

As the scrum intensified, government supporters still in their seats stood up to signal backing for the legislation, though there did not appear to be an audible announcement of what they were voting on.

The Bills would ease restrictions on what the Japanese military can do, undermining Tokyo’s pacifist post-war constitution.

Democratic Party of Japan senior member Tetsuro Fukuyama said that his party would not accept the vote because the ruling bloc had cheated.

“You saw the scene. We do not recognise that there was a vote. How can you tell what happened, what the chairman was calling?” he complained.

SOUTH Korean Defence Minister Han Min Koo insisted yesterday that his country had the right to reject US demands for Japanese troops to enter the Korean peninsula in emergencies.

Mr Han told Representative Lee Chun Seok of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy that South Korea could disregard any US call for Japanese involvement if an armed conflict broke out with North Korea.

His comments in parliament followed growing public concerns about the ramifications of Japan’s controversial security Bills that will allow it to fight overseas for the first time since the end of World War II.

Seoul’s foreign ministry reiterated its position at the weekend that Japan must win consent from South Korea before its collective self-defence right is exercised.

South Korea handed over wartime command of its troops to Washington during the 1950-53 Korean war and 28,500 US troops have been stationed there ever since.